Up Up and Away

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Jose Mariano Lopez Urdiales, the man behind the idea of "Bloon".  The concept is similar to Virgin Galactic and many others about space tourism, but instead of spacecrafts, Jose's vision is to offer near space travel in Helium Balloons - reaching an altitude of 36 km above sea level, giving a perfect view of the Earth as a globe. The expected date of launch is 2013 with latest date being 2015.  The cost of a trip is 110,000 euro and if you are interested, Select Collection is of course able to pre-book this for you.

Here I am together with Jose and Trevor Thomas

Design of the Pod attached to a Helium Balloon

Thousand and one night

La Sultana was my last hotel visit in Marrakech. It’s our favourite boutique style hotel in the Medina and we have a long wonderful relationship with the hotel. I was meeting with Julie Boisseau, who is the Director of Sales and Marketing. She is not just a wonderful person but very professional and we have many great deals and added values coming up for our valued clients.

Stepping into 1000 years of history

Breakfast and lunch are served on the patio by the heated pool

The hotel has not only lots of antiques and art but really comfortable beds as well

A bathrom like a temple

Julie and me had a great lunch on the rooftop terrace. Here you have breathtaking views of the city and the Atlas mountains

Lunch at Dar JL

The last day day in Marrakech I had a lovely lunch with Lisen and John, the owners of Dar JL, and their family and friends.  

Lunch in the private olive garden

Dar JL provides guests with their own private space, pools and gardens.

The ambience of magical Marocco

Here at Dar JL our valued clients will always get attentative service and all the facilities of a small luxury hotel

A Sunny Breakfast

My last breakfast at La Mamounia by the pool was warm and sunny 23 C


Some guests were sunbathing and swimming in the heated pool. Mornings and evening can be a bit chilly this time of the year in Marrakech but when the sun is out it's very warm.

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Intimate Dinner

Last night I was invited for a lovely dinner here in Marrakech by Anya, Gary and Shaun working for one of our African suppliers called: & Beyond.

Restaurant Foundouk in the Medina

Warm greetings when entering

Great food

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Last day of trading

Today is the last day of appointments, which will be 50 all together, plus all the networking that happen in the evenings.

This was the second time I joined Pure and not the last. I have found many unique places, we might consider for the future inclusion in Select Collection.

Experiences from the North...

To the South...

Helge is our expert for Trips into Norway that has been a hit among our valued clients in UK. Have you seen the Northern Lights?

Finally I found my private little island in the Caribbean!

We work with a lovely person called Lisa who has the most beautiful products in Peru, Inkaterra

We cover most of the world

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I'm pampered

I have the honor of staying at the beautiful hotel La Mamounia in Marrakech during my week at the Trade Show called Pure.

Welcome back Miss Graf

The hotel is surrounded by stunning gardens

A personal warm welcome by Denys and Lamia, both working for the Marketing and Sales.

Arriving to my Suite!

The Prestige suite is lovely, 100 square metres

A separate comfortable bedroom with balcony

The stylish bathroom area

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Official Opening Cocktail

Yesterday I arrived to Marrakech to attend the Trade Show for the travel industry called Pure. At Pure I will meet new and old hotel and travel industry partners, all to be updated and to give my valued clients the best options and deals when travelling with Select Collection.

The opening Event was held at Dar Soukkar, a beautiful place we can book for you whenever you plan an event in Marrakech.

Welcome performance

Two Swedish blonds, Lotta and me, enjoying great food and drinks.

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Charity Gala Dinner

The International Women's Club (IWC) held their 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner on Saturday at Operaterrassen in Stockholm.

The Gala was a fundraiser for Children's Cancer Hospital 57357 in Cairo.  The number of the hospital is the bank account number! (smart).  The theme of the evening was Egyptian with lovely food and entertainment.  Big lotteries and auction was held. Select Collection donated spa treatments.

The President of IWC Mrs Kanthi Beck and the Host of the evening, the Ambassador of Egypt Mr Osama Elmagdoub, both wonderful people, sitting opposite me for tasty Egyptian dinner.

Traditional Egyptian dances were performed.

Kate and Nick Wacz, planning a trip to Egypt

                                     Leija Graf, Marcus - Lufthansa & Therese of Etihad Airlines



Thousand and one night

Yesterday Select Collection, Connoisseur Magazine and Oman Tourism threw a lovely party at our Travel agency and Spa premises in Stockholm. Food inspired from the Middle East and Ruinard Champagne was served. Have a look at some pics from the evening!

Me together with Ralph and Håkan from Oman Tourism and Ea from Connoisseur

Our Director of Products and Marketing carrying the lovely food

One of our talented sales consultants, Tommy

Two of our wonderful spa therapists, Pat and Pathira



Spa Manager Hanna and me surrounding the lucky winner of a Six Senses Signature Massage - Birgitta

 

Baby Shower and Rush

This week has been extremely busy, both at Select Collection Travel and Select Collection Spa. We have lots of last minute requests for Christmas and the peak. I wish our valued clients will do early bookings next year so we can supply them with lower airfares.
All the lower booking classes for both business and economy class are for Early Birds!

I have some nice memories from last Sunday, when I was invited to my friend Mia’s baby shower. (She will have the baby in a few weeks time:))

We were 25 girls chatting, laughing and enjoying the evening. It was almost as we were in an episode of Sex and the city!

Mia and me

We were invited for Afternoon Tea and were served scones, cakes and these delicious organic rose pedals which you dip in the choclate.



The Producer: Mia's husband John Nevado



Away from winter

In today's FT there is an interesting and nice article of worldwide boutique hotels (with weather guaranteed!) Most of the hotels listed by the panel are great properties and I know them all. My Team and I have also visited most of them, since that is a must for any hotel to be in our Select Collection catalogue.

At the end of the day, the most important thing is to discuss what is the taste and requirements of our valued customers. Especially speaking about boutique hotels, the service level has a large variation. A Four Season customer might still require 24 hour room service, staying at a small hotel in Argentina or Brazil.

This is the reason we give face to face consultation to our clients.

The panel suggesting the hotels are from Hip Hotels, Boutique Hotels and Chic Retreats.

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VIP Service

We have a wonderful person at Select Collection and her name is Gillian. Gillian is not just one of the key persons at Production but also managing our extremely important VIP department. She has a great relationship to our suppliers and very often her magic touch and charm, turns normal rooms into lovely suites




A big thank you to Hotel Kämp and Gillian, for making my weekend in Helsinki very luxurious

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